The Distance From Home
by VixenAblaze
Summary: Ino runs away after a few years of hostile foster care. But what exactly happens when she finds herself in a familiar place? And why on earth are people recognizing her, it had been quite a while since the last time she was here! AU Ino x Gaara! GaaIno
1. Prologue

Prologue

I lied there awake. I shouldn't be awake in my bed, at 1 o clock on a school night! But with the noise coming from the living room it would have been pretty hard not to be awake. I'm going to be _so_ tired tomorrow! Nobody liked to be tired, almost falling asleep all day, then you just go to bed like it's a regular day.

And actually on a regular day I would not be up this late, at least not on a school night. But today was obviously different Misaki and Takeru had some sort of fight and were yelling late into the night. Their kind demeanour must have been fake. How could they keep us up this late? Taking in foster children had to be a good thing to a certain point, but you should at the very least have the decency to allow their sleep patterns to stay unharmed.

Then again I had only been here for about two weeks. What could I possibly know about their morals? We had breakfast every morning and dinner every night, not to mention they packed each of us a lunch. They seemed to be normal, but maybe they weren't. But I was getting ahead of myself one incident couldn't possibly prove such a thing. We weren't their real children of course we didn't quite get the utmost respect.

I looked over to Kasumi this must have scared her. She was only five or six and was most likely not used to this kind of thing. I quickly contemplate comforting her, but then I decide not to. I didn't really feel like getting out of bed and she'd probably need to get used to it living like this. But then again she was so young comfort would probably help her either way. I groaned sadly I had to do the right thing now or feel guilty for the rest of the night and get literally no sleep.

"Hey," I began still unsure how to help, "It's going to be all right, it's not like this is about you or anything." I stopped still unable to really help her. Maybe this would help a bit though? I hoped so.

"Okay, I know" she whispered in attempts to only be heard by me. "But it's still scary" she finished reassuring me that I had not helped at all.

"Well," I started, "Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked taking in her darkened features as she turned to me. Her long teal hair had been pulled back into a braid, most likely Misaki's work. I couldn't really make out much more of her in the dark.

"No, I'm fine" She replied fear evident in her voice.

I sighed, "You know it's alright they don't do this every night, in fact they barely ever do!" I tried to cheer her up seeing as though I'd been her longer than her. She simply nodded

I gave up; there wasn't much I could do for her anyways right? No matter, I was going to try and fall asleep. Although I knew it would most likely be a futile attempt.

I finally fell asleep around 2:30 or 3:00 I wasn't quite sure.

When the alarm I shared with Kasumi blasted in our ears, I was still incredibly tired. But I got up after one snooze cycle and bushed my teeth, took a shower (in attempts to wake myself up, which worked for the time being) and applied a little bit of makeup. After seeing my face in the mirror I noticed the bags under my eyes, which I didn't try to fix due to a lack of concealer.

I began my walk to school once I was dressed and my hair had dried. Kasumi was still in elementary school so she took a different route.

I walked into the building with my long blonde hair pulled into a high pony tail, and a pink and white tee shirt that had the adidas symbol on it with a pair of blue jeans and sneakers. It wasn't special, but this wasn't a special day anyways just another day of school three quarters of the way through the year if not a little further. It was quite cold in Washington, so I could withstand wearing jeans.

After returning home for the day I found out that, because the couple planned on keeping Kasumi (although they did scare her the night before) that I was going to have to move in a week's time. This made me sad, not all families were quite as nice as them. I hoped I'd get another nice family, I don't know what I'd do if I didn't.

The next week went by slowly. I didn't want it to be over, what if I got a family full of children that they couldn't honestly take care of? Or worse an abusive one, I hadn't seen many of those but I'd seen it on Dr. Phil and other TV shows and I knew it could be really bad.

After packing my bags, I finally stood before the door of my new home. I inhaled deeply, as my social worker told me to alert him if anything were to happen and rang the doorbell.

I sighed in relief when a young woman with a kind face opened the door. So far it seemed that I had been lucky this time. I almost thanked the gods for this blessing aloud. But I realized I may not be correct, you can't judge a book by its cover, and that goes the same for a woman.

The woman showed me to my room, my worry evaporated for the time being seeing that there was only one girl there. At least I wouldn't have to worry about overcrowding. I walked over to my bed across the room and introduced myself. "Hey, I'm Ino" I smiled at her.

The girl looked to be about my age, her hair was short and pink, and I wondered why she dyed it that colour. "Nice to meet you" She began, "I'm Sakura" She smiled as well leaning forward on her bed.

We talked together for the next hour or so and eventually made our way to this topic. "So why did you dye your hair pink?" I asked her finally giving into my curiosity.

She glared at me offended, "It's natural!" she growled in anger.

"Really?" I asked with a surprised expression on my face.

"Yes!" She growled again, "Why does everyone suspect that it isn't natural?" She questioned me. I almost answered that it was a very _unnatural_ colour but held it in.

"Well I guess it's kind of cool that you have such a…" I paused trying to think of a word, "_radiant_ hair colour" I smiled at her again.

"Yeah, it is pretty damn cool" She smirked as she looked back up at me.

We continued on like this for quite a while, it turned out that she had gone to my school all along, I had just somehow missed her. We were in the same grade too! How the hell did that happen? Oh and I got to stay at the same school! This seemed to be turning out pretty good so far.

After dinner with Kione and Sakura I got a full night's sleep. Not so unusual but it was nice anyway.

When I woke up, me and Sakura walked to school together after my daily morning routine. The rest of the week went by smoothly, and I soon found that Kione had a husband who was now on a business trip in New York. I wondered what he would be like. Would he ruin my life here? Sakura had never met him because this trip was obviously extremely long and she had arrived only a few days after he left.

Me and Sakura became pretty good friends over that week, although it was only a week and not much could arise over that time.

The moment Ichiru returned home I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep, despite the great week I had. He was yelling as soon as he got home, he did not enter our room but continued to yell at Kione. I had to wonder why he was so angry with her, was it because of me and Sakura? I hoped not.

When I awoke, after a poor night of sleep Ichiru had already left for work. I wanted to ask Kione what they were yelling about, but was too afraid that it might be me and Sakura. The rest of the day continued at a normal pace besides my lack of sleep.

I heard Ichiru return again at night, but there was no yelling today and I could fall asleep easy. The rest of the week went by at a similar pace, but I was afraid for the weekend when I would finally have to face Ichiru.

On Saturday morning I awoke to a pile of pancakes, both Sakura and Ichiru were still asleep, but Kione was obviously awake. She smiled at me as I walked into the room. I quickly sat down and started eating the pancakes that I had also been given the previous weekend.

Ichiru eventually joined us, but Sakura was still asleep. I first gave me a look of suspicion, but then realizing that I was the foster child he eased up a bit and said, "Hey" he smiled although I could tell it was fake.

The rest of breakfast was awkward, this guy seemed pretty anti -social, and when Sakura joined us it only got worse. The entire day was awkward and boring. The only thing I could find to occupy my time was homework, and when that happened you knew life was sad.

The next day was quite different. After most of the day was over me and Sakura snuck out and went to a party. Which of course was pretty damn fun.

But on the way back in, Ichiru caught us, Sakura and I both were scared out of our minds. We had no idea what was going to happen, and it wasn't pretty.

First he began yelling at us, which awoke Kione who tried to stop him, insinuating that we were teenage, drug using, party going sluts (I'm not sure where he got that) and did not deserve a place at his home. He then continued to slap me in the face first, but Kione stopped him before he could hurt Sakura. I was so surprised I had not expected this; it had been going so well so far!

In the morning I awoke to find a bruise on my face that would be quite visible to anyone. Luckily, or so I assumed at the time Kione woke me up early in the morning and took me to the drug store to help me find some concealer which she paid for. Nobody could tell that I had a bruise on my face, but not only did it still hurt, but it scared me.

The rest of the week was similar, Ichiru angry with us and finding any excuse to harm us, Sakura and I received a few more bruises and Kione could not leave us alone with him. After that week I was quite scared, and proceeded to call my social worker as he had advised when he knocked on the door. I didn't want to take it anymore if I didn't have to, I'd try to help Sakura too if I could. But of course I came first; I mean she wasn't family or anything.

I called and his secretary answered, "Hello?" she sounded quite happy despite she was working for children in need of homes.

"Hi" I replied into the phone receiver, Ichiru was still at work, which was part of the reason I could do this. I asked to speak with her boss immediately and she told me that he was not available at the time. Then proceeded to ask me if there was anything she could do. So I told her about what was happened. This seemed to sadden her.

"I'll do what I can, I'll try to get this to him as soon as possible" She replied her voice still slightly depressed. I nodded and hung up.

I waited another week for something to happen, but nothing did. What had she done? Nothing? I hoped not. I tried calling again but the line was busy and I didn't try again.

I waited yet another week and not only had she done nothing yet, but the abuse continued and I refused to continue living here. But what could I do? Confront him? There was no way that would work! Tell someone at school? But who, I didn't trust any of them very much; I had only gone to this school for about a year. Then I thought of it.

I'd run away, It'd be great. I only had a week left of school so I decided to wait until it was over. I might as well finish what I started and get exams over and done with.

Even though I still had to finish the week, I began packing the bulk in the suitcase I took to get to the other homes. I began to wonder if I should include Sakura in this plot. I eventually decided not to. If I went missing, the police would hopefully look into it and notice that Sakura was being abused! Then they'd send her to another home. She hadn't done anything about it herself, or if she had I didn't know. I told her about the phone call, which of course exited her. Then she went on about how if we went somewhere else she hoped we'd still be together because we had gotten close, and we were the same age! But when nothing happened she didn't mention it again.

Over the week I had slowly packed everything up, token exams, bought a train ticket to Chicago Illinois, Packed a snack in my back pack which I decided I would also take. Sadly I had to steal a bit of money from Kione, which I regret but it was indeed necessary, I wanted to be able to survive after. I decided that this Friday or actually today I would stuff my blanket into my bag and carry my pillow with me out the window at 8 when we lied in bed, but before Ichiru came home, considering that he never looked in our rooms or at least barely I knew I had the night to get where I wanted.

I quickly ran off to the train station and got on the train to Illinois using my one way ticket. The security person gave me a suspicious look, I told him that was going to meet my uncle there and he understood my lie. I happily slept in the train seat in wait for my life away from here. It would be great or so I hoped, but at least it would be better, and maybe I might even get to go to school again.

**A/N:** Okay, in case you're wondering the reason I put this in the U.S is because (even though I'm not American…. **IM CANADIAN!**) I understand the USA much better than Japan. And From what I've heard from my Japanese teacher (yes I am learning Japanese) is that they don't even have a foster system there! So it might not even work there. I'm keeping Japanese names cause it would be stupid for me to add all the new people (or OCS) with English names or change all the Japanese names. Oh yeah and I'm sorry if there are any spelling mistakes I'm to lazy to edit myself and when I spell checked I said yes to almost everything without looking so some things may have screwed up. _Tu comprende? _Okay if you like this please review I haven't posted anything lately and I hope to continue with this soon.


	2. A new start

**~Chapter Two: A New Start~**

I sat up as the train slowed, I was so happy to finally be able to get out of this freaking train! The train had been quite boring; I hadn't really left my seat. The leather smelt nice at first but after a day and a half of it I didn't notice anymore. I ate meals from the train when the waitress lady walked by, which was actually quite often. As soon as I had woken up this morning I turned on the IPod that one of my previous foster parents had given me as a birthday present. Which of course surprised me how could they be so generous? That I did not know, not that I minded. I plugged the headphones into my ears, pressed play then stared out the window. Some of the things I saw were so beautiful and some extremely boring. If it wasn't for my music I may have died of boredom, it was crazy how without any stimulation the brain will just spaz out. Well that was one way of putting it, but really without my music I would have had to sleep 24/7 or something. Speaking of which I had just awoken from one of those about an hour ago, with a cramped neck because I just fell asleep I didn't put a pillow there or anything.

And now we were getting of this damn train? I was so happy, yet I was afraid what the hell was I going to do here? Where was I going to live? What had I honestly expected? A hotel, yeah I'd probably live at a hotel for a while. Maybe I could eventually move into an apartment. And what about school? Would I ever be able to go back? I hoped so, I wanted a god damned real job that paid well! I had thought out things before this point but never dared think about what would happen after I got off the train.

Okay, I would go to the hotel first, I probably couldn't fall asleep but I needed to know where I was saying. At this time it was almost 11 pm anyways. It was currently Saturday; this train ride had been really long. But back to my previous topic, after finding my hotel I would walk around the city and take a look hopefully get back to the hotel before too late I didn't want any shit to go down. Then I'd watch TV… I hadn't seen any in almost a day and a half and it was doing weird things to my brain. Weird things that I couldn't explain! Then the next day I would hunt for a job, I needed to be able to pay for myself didn't I? I couldn't live off of Kione's money forever I didn't take that much, although I could definitely survive without a job for quite a while. Maybe even the whole summer, although that was definitely wishful thinking. How long would it take me to find a job I wondered? I was a sixteen year old girl with no prior experience, well maybe I did have some, but I couldn't exactly give references. I'm sure someone would hire me, teens worked everywhere. Okay after I found a job what, and how long would that take? I couldn't possibly know. But after that I would look for an apartment to stay at, if I had a steady job then it might be easier to find one. After all that, I'd start thinking about school, what could I do to get back in? Use a fake name, use my name and hope nothing happened. Pretend to be a year younger, I couldn't pretend to be a year older I'd miss a year of school. It doesn't matter yet, unless I see a sign that says all students must register before….. A date. For now I'd get the fuck off this train and find a hotel to stay at.

After reminding myself that the train had actually stopped, I packed up my blanket and pillow (into my backpack) and grabbed my suitcase. After getting off a checked into a room at the closest, cheapest hotel around. It was actually a Motel by the way. Anyways as soon as I got my key, receiving a few suspicious looks along the way, I guess I did look my age. I made my way over to my room walked in locked it, and bolted it. This was indeed the cheapest I could find and I don't know what others do here. I plopped my few bags down on the floor, took off my black bomber jacket and lied on the bed for a minute. It was pretty comfortable, at least after sleeping on a chair for the last couple nights (and during the day). But I wasn't sleepy so I didn't stay for too long. When I sat up I was happy to find a television, this motel wasn't that cheap. I got up, pulling my jacket and shoes, which I hadn't even realized I had took off back on. I headed out the door, my key in my pocket making sure to lock it before I left.

Although dark, the streets were quite pleasant; nothing too creepy was going on. And I wasn't anywhere close to the only one out here. Many others enjoyed strolling in the dark. Although not everyone had just moved here, although some of them may have. After going down a side alley, I noticed a flower shop, I had always loved flowers. Maybe I'd show up here after I got an apartment, or maybe before in order to warm up that motel room. I'd think about that later this week, for now I just wanted to see everything the city had to offer.

I continued my search, still amazed by the city, it had been a long time since I was here last and many things had changed. Not really for the worse, but for all I knew not really for the better. I had seen most of the city, though not all of it yet. I noticed one of the buildings had a clock on it (a little odd, but hey maybe the owner was trying to be practical to civilians?) but anyways it was past twelve, so I decided to head back home. As I decided earlier, I would go home before, "any shit went down" and that I did. I ended up back at the hotel, which I now called home… so quickly within 20 minutes. Not bad for a newcomer!

When I stepped into the small room I was considerably more tired than I had been before I left this room. But I still needed my television time; my brain was seriously going to start doing weird stuff. Maybe it already had, maybe there was no clock on that building! But there probably was…. Family guy was on, I didn't mind. Anything to stop my brain from whacking out. After that mostly everything on TV was infomercials, they timed out seriously early. I continued watching the, _magic bullet_ infomercial I still wasn't quite tired enough to go to bed. Halfway through I shut it off and went to bed. I couldn't take hearing them repeat themselves one more time.

I fell asleep surprisingly fast, considering that I had slept earlier that day, but what time did I fall asleep at? My guess was around two in the morning. That damn _magic bullet_ infomercial had been long! I had a weird dream, I did quite often. First I was in a field, of hay…. Then it all turned green. And then, a bull began chasing me… so I ran, then I noticed I was wearing a red hoodie, so while continuing to run I pulled it off and threw it as far away from me as I could. The bull instantly swerved away towards it. I wonder now that I'm awake whether or not that would actually happen. But after that I ran for my life and ended up at an ocean and I fell in. Swimming away I eventually noticed that I could no longer see the shore, this of course sent me into an extreme panic. But a ship eventually saw me and brought me aboard. After climbing on I quickly realized that they were scientists studying the squid and the giant squid. Had I really been swimming so close to such an animal? No way! But I had. After a while of sitting on deck... not really doing anything. A giant squid tried to eat the ship. But we were successfully saved. By some guy's gun he shot a bunch of arms… or shall I say tentacles? Off and they ended up using them for research. I mean it was a _real_ giant squid, pretty cool had it not tried to eat me. At some point we ended up back on land and I said my good byes, a few other uninteresting things happened, but soon I woke up due to a lack of tiredness. This dream definitely seemed to have no meaning, but who the hell would know. Maybe I should beware of freaking giant squids, or bulls or both. Or maybe that dude who shot the squid was my true love. But I doubted that, his face hadn't even stayed in my head. Maybe when I saw him I'd recognize him.

I was awake now, I thought about how ridiculous that dream was… all of my dreams were, well not quite all but a lot of them were. Either way, I quickly turned on the television and watched morning cartoons, or rather noon cartoons… Considering it was almost one pm. After about an hour of cartoons, I got up and took a shower, continuing on with what was usually my morning routine.

After all of which, I began my job hunt. I trifled through the papers that I found in the front lobby. And flipped through the internet pages on the computer also in the lobby for hours. I didn't come up with much, but I did get a few interviews. After all of this I walked around the city looking for, "help wanted" signs and eventually found some. After a week and a half, I had still come up empty handed. I knew I couldn't live off of the money I'd token from Kione forever, although I did indeed have high hopes for the time period it would last.

I walked around the town I had gotten used to, at the very least slightly. I needed to get a job soon; I didn't want to waste all of Kione's money. I wanted some of it to go towards an apartment, or school or something! Damn, this wasn't going well. I was still walking the streets looking for another help needed sign. I would look through the newspaper every day, but it seemed that not much turned up for jobs that I could get. Damn you college degree, I'm only sixteen anyways!

Then walking down that street that I had the first night I was here, I noticed that flower store again. AND IT HAD A HELP NEEDED SIGN! Oh my goodness, this was a gift from god. I swear I almost got down on my knees and thanked the heavens for this… but there were other people on the sidewalk, I'm sorry I couldn't share my thoughts aloud!

I walked in feeling a little nervous, this would be perfect. But what if I didn't get the job? That would be pretty depressing, like how would I ever get the job. I soon greeted the owner, asking about the help needed sign. He informed me that the worker would be working as the cashier, and advising customers, depending on the day. After that he quizzed me on a few things about flowers. I'm sure I passed with flying colours, because I got the job! I finally got a job, and it seemed to be a damn good job. I loved flowers so this would be good for me for now. I hugged him after he gave me the job, and then skipped home, or to the motel I had become accustomed to.

I quickly began to think about an apartment, I searched the internet for cheap places for rent, and came up with a few I could look at tomorrow. Damn I was happy. Today had been a good day, a damn good day! Thank you god! Thank you Allah! Thank you so much!

I was happy for now, but I still had a ways to go before my life fell into place.

I groaned, noticing that the subway coming to yet another stop. But this of course was yet again _not_ **my stop**. Every single time I got my hopes up, even though I must have known that it couldn't possibly be my stop. Over the past week, I had moved into my new apartment and fallen into the schedule of my new job at the flower store. Today after work I decided that I needed another part time job, which is what brought me here. The reason I believed this was that I wasn't really doing anything with my time and extra money couldn't hurt right? As long as the other job wasn't too tiring I could do it.

Before this day I had honestly never been on a subway before, but it wasn't all that hard to get used to. Finally after coming to the stop I recognized the name of the street mentioned. I jumped up grabbing my bag and heading out the electronic sliding doors.

The place I wanted to work at wasn't far from my subway stop. In fact after getting off, it only took me a few minutes to get to the door. I quickly read the words on the sign, "Becky's Fruits" this was the place. I took a deep breath before pushing the door open, which caused the bells above to ring. The woman organizing the fruits instantly turned to me. She seemed to recognize me, I was afraid for a second that may not be good.

"Hi, you must be Ino" she smiled at me _must_ that was good she didn't actually know me. I guessed that she was the owner of the store; the owner of the flower shop knew her and offered me a chance to meet with her.

I smiled back at the woman who must have been in her late thirties, "That would be me" we quickly began speaking about business. She accepted my application, after speaking with her flower loving friend over the phone earlier she had already almost decided to accept she told me. I would again be working as a cashier, but this time solely as a cashier. I would work Tuesday afternoons and the whole weekend, including Friday evening. She was open to change, which I may take her up on in the future, but for now I was happy.

After leaving I headed towards Wal-Mart, knowing that I needed to buy myself some food now that I was living in an apartment. I began to think of the plan I had made when getting off the train, I now had a job… well two, and an apartment. The next step was to think about school, which I had absolutely no idea what I could do about.

When I actually entered Wal-Mart I realized that I had to go to the bathroom, so I did. On the way out I noticed something surprisingly familiar. **My face!** I saw a missing persons paper pinned to the board, my mouth dropped instantly, I hadn't actually thought about that since I got off the train. After looking around making sure no one was looking this way, I pulled the sheet of paper off the bulletin board. I didn't want anyone to see it.

I quickly skimmed through the sheet, Ino Yamanaka, age sixteen, long blonde hair, blue eyes. The sheet went on, although the picture was quite descriptive on its own. Where had that picture come from anyways? I thought hard and realized it was the one of me, Kione and Sakura, both of which must have been cropped out. So I was missing now.

I folded the paper and placed it in my bag; I would try reading it thoroughly later. I speeded up, heading towards the area with all the cereal. If I was missing, would it be hard to get back into a school? I hoped not. Was I on the back of milk boxes now? I doubted it; I had honestly never seen a face on the back of a milk carton.

I grabbed all the items I desired, after a short period of time. I was pretty sure I had everything I wanted, but then I remembered shampoo. My long, lovely blonde hair did indeed need to be washed… **and conditioned**. I wandered off in the direction of hair products. I grabbed the shampoo and conditioner I knew had a fruity smell. Then I noticed something, the hair dye products. **NO! NO WAY **AM I **NOT** DYING MY BEAUTIFUL BLONDE HAIR! I thought instantly, but there were more important things than hair… weren't there? Yes, I reminded myself. Maybe if I dyed my hair I could not only stay here longer, but maybe get into school… Then again if I had the same name it might not make a difference right?

No, I didn't need to dye my hair it wouldn't make that much of a difference would it? But it couldn't _really_ hurt could it? It wasn't as though I was bleaching my hair, with my natural colour that would be pretty stupid. It would wash out eventually even semi-permanent. Or so I believe… Maybe I should get… non-permanent. I have to do it! I've got to do all I can. But…. My hair… no…. I can't…. "UGH!" I screamed aloud in anger, "Damn it no Ino you have to do this don't chicken out!" I encouraged myself aloud. "Damn it why does life have to be so hard?" I questioned the world, although I'm pretty sure the only ones who could hear me were the people in this isle… maybe even a little further out than that. It seemed that people were staring at me. Whatever, so I looked like a crazy person… I mean this was a damn hard choice.

"Why does life have to be so hard?" I heard an obnoxious voice scream, causing me to turn away from the stack of boxes of paper clips that I had been focusing on for the last 10 seconds. I saw a blonde pulling at her hair, who looked like she could be having a mid-life crisis, besides the fact that she looked to be the age of a high school student. I soon noticed that she was staring at the hair dye section of the hair products. My mouth dropped a bit, could hair dye honestly be _that hard_ of a decision? Yes, it seemed that for her it was. She definitely looked perplexed, extremely perplexed. I almost laughed at this, but I didn't. Most likely she had one of those preppy, girly moments going on.

Despite my thoughts, I found myself walking towards her. Why? I have absolutely no idea why, it was like some unknown force pushed me forward, leaving behind the stack of paper clips. At first she didn't notice my presence as I moved closer. But a few seconds after I placed myself beside her she noticed. She turned her head to me and I quickly analyzed her face. I didn't recognize it, not that I knew an extremely large amount of people.

She looked up at me probably questioning why I was here. "Ugh…" She grumbled, "You probably think I'm crazy don't you?" She asked me without giving me any time to answer. "Or maybe I'm having a nervous breakdown" She growled at me, once again without giving me any time to respond. "Well I don't care okay if I'm crazy," She began raising her voice, not really helping her cause. "So be it!" She yelled at me completely disproving her point.

She immediately turned away, but then turned back. "I'm sorry about that…." She began, "I mean it's not like I've been having a bad day or anything… but I just don't want to be seen as crazy" She paused for a second. "Well actually I just made myself look crazy… but that was not my intent… once again I'm sorry!" I nodded.

She instantly continued after receiving that small amount of input from him. "I just can't decide" she explained to me with a sigh.

"It can't be that hard to pick a colour…" I once again gave her my own input, after her rant and apology.

Her eyes widened in horror, "Colour…." She bit her lip, most likely to stop herself from once again screaming to the gods. "Damn it I have to pick a colour don't I" she grumbled to herself. She wasn't picking out a colour? Then what the hell was the problem that had caused her to yell to the gods earlier? "Thanks" She growled venomously, sarcasm apparent in her voice. "You have just presented me with a new problem" She turned and glared at the boxes of hair dye, although she was obviously speaking to me.

She sighed, seemingly forgiving me, then bending down in order to take a look at the colours on the lower shelves. I continued to wonder about what she could possibly been contemplating earlier, but I did not voice my questions. Almost as though she sensed my thoughts she began to clear up her earlier outburst, "I couldn't decide if I should dye my hair or not.." I deadpanned, or as much as I could.

She continued her search for the right colour, seemingly sensing my surprise, although it may not have been that hard to tell despite my expression. She soon pulled out a mousy brown colour, "ew… why would anyone dye their hair that colour…" she expressed her disgust with the colour hastily putting it back on the shelf. She mused for a few minutes over the rest of the colours before pulling another box out. It was a red colour, similar to my own hair, but darker. She held it for a minute in thought, "Nah" she said finally putting it back on the shelf. Then she grabbed two shades of brown one darker than the other. "Hm.".

She turned to him for the first time in quite a while, "Which one do you like better?" she asked me determination in her pale blue eyes.

"Uhm…" I looked at the two boxes she was holding up for a few seconds, "That ones to dark so the other one" I pointed to 'the other one'.

"Thanks," She smiled at me, putting the darker one back on the shelf and the one I had chosen into her basket. Afterwards she pulled out two bottles, which I assumed were shampoo and conditioner. Holding the two bottles, she ran over to where all the shampoo and conditioner containers were. I followed after her, finding her rubbing her index finger and thumb against her chin, as though she was brushing through the beard that she clearly did not have.

"What ar-"she cut me off, preventing me from contributing more to the conversation myself.

"I'm trying to decide whether or not I should buy the colour block shampoo" she began, "cause' I don't know if I really want to keep my hair that colour…." I understood her reasoning; if she didn't use the colour stay shampoo her colour might fade wash away faster.

"You might as well buy the colour stay stuff, It'll wash out eventually, and I'm pretty sure that if you don't use it the entire colour will fade around the same time" I made the largest contribution I had in a long time. She nodded, and continued to stroke the beard that she didn't have for a few minutes before she finally decided to take the colour stay shampoo.

She then started her way out of the isle. But then she stopped and turned around. "I'm Ino, by the way" she smiled at me again.

I nodded, "Gaara" I gave her my name.

"See you Gaara" She waved and went on her way to the cashier. That was odd, this hole… _thing_ was odd. I walked back to the paper clips I had been looking at before _Ino_ had screamed.

I finally took a seat on the couch, that I had scrambled the money, from Kione's _funds_ to buy. I was a little tired after that long subway ride. I had already put away all the things that had to go in the fridge. My gaze drifted to the folded paper in my bag. That paper saying I had gone missing. "If I was going to dye my hair I should do it soon…" I grumbled aloud to myself, getting off the couch and looking for the hair dye box. I read through the instructions a few times before finally beginning the procedure.

**A/N:** Okay so… I didn't purposely hold off naming Gaara… it was just in his POV so… I dunno he doesn't really notice features about himself. And... Choosing the guy for this was really hard for me, I had up the part where it switches to Gaaras POV written then it took me like a week to figure out who. And…. I think that if you rent an apartment it usually comes with a fridge… hers did either way. I hope you liked it :D


	3. Encounter

**The Distance from Home**

**Chapter Two: Encounter**

I frowned at my reflection; I had gone through this process every morning for the past few days. Regret, I regret dying my hair maybe even running away. Had I stayed there, I would have no need to change my appearance. Then again that was a pretty small sacrifice, wasn't it?

I shifted my gaze to the folder piece of paper taped to the corner of my bathroom. The paper that hosted the colour photo that had been taken of me around two months ago. I growled as I pulled my hair out of the high pony tail identical to the one in the picture. After dying my hair, it still looked remarkably similar to how it had looked before. But I had to keep it out of my face, because as I had learned over the past few days the sight of it pushed me into extreme anger. Even my bangs angered me. I dug through the drawer on my left for my recently purchased headband. At the very least keeping my bangs out of my face altered my appearance. But I decided I should do something else with the majority of my hair, a pony tail was still too similar. Maybe I should get a haircut as well. What? No! How could I even think that? My hair had gone through enough!

I would definitely look different... Maybe some other time, not this week. I need a little more time to think it over. But for now I needed to do something with my hair, in order to prevent myself from taking my rage out on unsuspecting bystanders. A braid, I'd braid my hair! Considering the constant pony tails, it'd been a while since I had braided anything. But like any girl, I could indeed braid; hair, rope, string, threads or pretty much anything else.

Despite the hairband and braid I was still Ino Yamanaka. There wasn't much I could do to Change that, plastic surgery aside. But from afar you probably couldn't tell, and if you hadn't been acquainted with me, you might not even make the connection. It wasn't as though my name and face had been broadcasted across the country, yet. But then again if they hadn't done it already they probably weren't going to. I had definitely been gone long enough to be classified as missing, and I had a flyer to prove it. The flyer taped to the corner of my mirror.

I covered the bruise on my face, which was barely visible, with makeup then headed to the door. I grabbed my bag and keys along the way and quickly slipped on my boots. Kione had gotten them for me while I was living with her. They were black, and almost reached my knees. These were accompanied by a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a purple v neck tee. It was nearing the end of summer, thus nearing a change of weather. I could still wear a tee shirt but for now I'd prefer jeans rather than shorts.

Today I was headed to the flower shop; it would be the first time I would be there with another employee since I had dyed my hair. Whether or not they initially recognize me could be a test as to how good my disguise is. They probably would, I had been working there for just under a month.

Bells rang as I walked in; causing the bored looking woman looked up from her seat at the cash register. "Hi, is there anything I cou-" she cut herself off as I moved closer. Success, she had been fooled if even for a second. "Ino? Is that you?" I smiled back at her.

"Yep," I replied satisfied with her reaction.

"Your hair it's..."

"Brown," I finished off her sentence.

"Yeah..." she was obviously still slightly stunned at the change in my appearance. "You dyed it?" she questioned me, although it was one of the few explanations that made sense.

"Yep," I gave her the same reply I had mere seconds ago.

"Why?" she continued to question me.

"I guess I needed a change," I moved my hand behind my head to move my long braid in front of my shoulder.

She nodded and continued to go through the inventory list as I can only assume she had been doing before. As quickly as she got back to work I made my way into the back room. Today I was arranging bouquets; this chore of course included chopping off the bottom of the stem and wrapping it with pretty paper. For some reason I felt at peace when sorting flowers, much more than working at the cash register.

I stepped out the front door just on time to encounter a breeze pushing its way into the flower shop. The bells above my head jingled, as the wind pushed past it into the store. The temperature had taken quite a drop since I had last stepped outside. When I left the house I had not anticipated that it would cool down this much, so I didn't bring a jacket. That was quite a big mistake I had made there. I would have to hurry home; otherwise I might freeze my ass off.

I hurried off in the direction of my new residence. Aside from the fact that it was becoming increasingly cold by the minute, pretty soon it would be dark out. And as keen as I had been when I first got here to walk around in the dark, deep down inside I knew it was notoriously unsafe.

As I walked down the sidewalk, I noticed small kiosk to the side, and I decided I could stop for a minute. Even if the temperature dropped every minute, I would survive. Besides, I need some fresh fruits anyways. The fruit stand was perfect! I curved in to get a better look at the various fruit placed in bins.

The aged man shot me a small smile, as I looked up for a second in order to check out the prices. I smiled back before I once again lowered my gaze to the fruit, oblivious to the look he gave me anyone would describe it as a 'just saw a ghost' face.

"You…." The man spoke as though he had declared that I was some sort of demon child. I furrowed my brow, raising my gaze catching the bewildered look in his eyes that I must have missed only seconds earlier. It was as though he had just found out that I had murdered his child. He cut me off as I was about to question him aloud. "Your face…" he grabbed my chin and lifted it, then angled it to the side like he was examining it.

I jerked away, "Ummm…" I was unsure of how I could continue this conversation, and whether or not I would buy his fruit! "What about my face..?" I questioned, had he seen my face before, _when_ I murdered his only son? Obviously not, because I had committed no such crime in the city of Chicago, or anywhere for that matter. But maybe he had seen another one of those flyers and recognized my face? No way…. But did people really remember those faces that well? I hope not.

"It's so…." Perfect? Yes indeed my face was perfect, but this must have been going somewhere else. The man wouldn't risk business for the chance to tell me my face was beautiful. "Oh my god…"He quietly exclaimed. Maybe I really had murdered his child, in my sleep of course. I would remember that sort of thing.

"What?" I snapped back at him, I was particularly annoyed. What if he really did recognize me from one of those posters? Would he like report me or something? But I'm sure he could see that I looked quite content, at the very least I hope I can.

"You look so familiar…" he trailed off. Did he really recognize me? It had better not be from another one of those stupid flyers… I mean I wasn't even on TV! But where the hell else might he recognize me from? It had been a damn long time since I had left. And I hadn't been here long enough to be recognized. Unless of course he had recognized me from one of those god forsaken flyers.

I looked up at him, the horror in my eyes mirroring those in his own. Maybe it wasn't from that flyer, why would he be so afraid or… surprised? "You must be-"I began my strategy to prove to him that I was not the murderer of his child, or anyone else he had ever seen for that matter.

"Youko…" I instantly froze in place, the blood started to pump through my veins faster than they had in quite a while. I must have heard wrong… Or maybe it's just a coincidence? That was it; there was no way that he-

"You look like her…" He once again interrupted my train of thought, proving that I had not misheard. And most likely, it was not just a coincidence… If I looked like her then… Well it was damn likely that we were thinking of the same person.

I looked back up at him, analyzing him for a minute, before this day I had never laid eyes on him in my entire life. Or if I had, I sure as hell didn't remember. There was no way… His deep green eyes seemed to bore holes into my very soul, so I decided I'd speak up and get myself out of this situation. "I'm sure you're mistaken…"Whether or not this was a coincidence or….Anything not of that sort, I did not feel like getting into it with him. It wasn't really any of his business. I stepped back a couple inches, I probably wasn't going to get any fresh fruit today…

As I continued to back away he continued to talk, and followed at a slower pace. "No… But your eyes… you must be…" he trailed off as if thinking about this himself. Now that was a first, he hadn't seemed to use much of his head from the very moment that I had met him. But _who_ must I be? If he thought I was her, then he was sadly mistaken. But still… why would he have any relation with _her_… or me?

He grabbed my wrist and moved in closer, all the while staring into my eyes. "That Yamanaka…" I pulled my arm out of his grasp. _Yamanaka?_ How could he know my name? And had he recognized my eyes? I guess my eyes were a… Yamanaka trait.

* * *

><p>Today had been a long day, an excruciatingly long day! Shopping for school supplies was not fun, and just about any student could vouch for me! Because I had finished my part of the horrible ordeal, I had been allowed to leave staples early. And thus the reason I had been walking down the sidewalk, in search of my home. Well I knew where I lived, but I still needed to get there. It was odd how many people were walking through the streets at this time of day… But I suppose that people walked through the streets at night, so six pm wasn't all that bad.<p>

I didn't particularly like being around so many people, I would prefer to be alone, or with my family. It wasn't as though I was claustrophobic or anything, but being with a large group of people was anything but pleasant. I allowed a growl to escape my lips; some of the people around me gave me odd looks. But had they known me a little better, they would know that this was not out of character for me.

All in all, today hadn't been a very monumental day, and I didn't really expect it to be, nor for anything in the remainder of the day to make it such. The last time I had even a slightly interesting day, had been the day I bumped into that blonde, Ino wasn't it? Which was sad, I obviously didn't make that much human contact, outside of my family that is. But even within my own family most relations are a bit strained. And the fault could at the very least partially belong to me. My slightly anti-social behavior helped to push just about anyone away. But that was it, it only helped, there were other factors which must have added to my behavior.

Then something appeared to be making my day at least slightly more interesting. There was a bit of a commotion a couple feet ahead. Not many others seemed to take notice of this, maybe they were just used to all the spats in the big city. A brunette seemed to be pulling away from a slightly aged man, who appeared to be working as a street vendor in the area. But that face… That was her! The girl at Wal-Mart… the blonde! But she was no longer a blonde… Then again when I bumped into her, she was looking at hair dye, so this really did make sense didn't it? I picked up the pace and ran forward. For some reason, I was drawn to her, maybe it was because the last time I saw her she had indeed made my day interesting, and she could probably succeed today.

"YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY CRAZY!" she screamed at the man, shooting him a glare that suggested exactly as she had just said. Odd… every time I bumped into her she seemed to be yelling. At least this time she had a more sensible reason, or so I assume. I moved forward, in order to not only get a better view, but hopefully attract attention. Attention from a certain brunette, a brunette who had been naturally blonde. This was slightly odd behavior of mine, normally I would try to stay out of it, or ignore it. But I instead ignored the thought, so what if I was acting a little out of character? I was allowed a break every now and then.

"How the hell do y-"She had already lowered the volume of her voice when she stopped speaking as she noticed the crimson mop atop my head. I usually stood out, if not for my behavior then definitely for my bright coloured hair.

"It's you…"she spoke as though confirming to herself. "Gaara?" She questioned, she probably wasn't sure that was my name. I nodded confirming her thoughts.

"OH Hey!" She smiled, completely forgetting that she had previously been yelling at the street vendor. The eyebrows that I had _disappeared_ only a week ago shot up instantly causing a wrinkle to form on my forehead. Her head tilted to the side for a moment, until she realized that in all honesty I had reason to be confused. Or maybe she was just a little freaked out by my eyebrowlessness….

She turned back to the street vendor quickly shooting him a glare and mouthing, what I believed to be, "You're full of shit, that isn't me!" But that is pretty weird, and she may have mouthed or… whispered quiet enough that I couldn't hear her something else. Then she grabbed my wrist and pulled me through the crowd into a slightly less populated area.

"So what brings you here?" she questioned me with a broad smile on her face. Apparently she had taken a liking to me.

"Not much…" I responded in a monotone voice.

"Oh…" She began, "Well what do you think of my hair?" she asked, unconsciously pulling her braid to the front of her shoulder.

"It's alright…" I preferred her blonde hair, it just stood out more, but it wasn't bad.

"Hmmm…" Ino started off before mumbling something to herself, all I heard was "next time," And that could really mean anything.

"Anyways…" she began yet another conversation of ours. "I think that we should exchange phone numbers!" she puckered her lips, and slightly narrowed her eyes in way that said 'we totally should'.

"Um… sure..?" It couldn't really be a bad thing to exchange numbers could it?

"Alright!" she beamed at me and pulled out her cell phone. "Okay so what's your number?" she opened some sort of contacts thing. I quickly filled it out.

"Mmmmkay, I'll text you then you can add me kay?" I nodded; this wasn't exactly a difficult affair. My cell almost instantly beeped, and I added her to my contacts.

"Thanks!" she winked at me. I tried to pull my lips into a smile, but failed…. Miserably. She sadly did notice this.

"What's wrong?" her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Umm… Nothing…" nothing was, I was just a bit… slightly anti-social.

"Alright… fine, be that way…" be like what, myself? Yep.

"Sooooo…." The woman began yet again. "You should probably walk me home, I mean considering you're already here…" she gave me that look that totally said, 'you know… you should… ya know…'

"Alright…" I replied, trailing off.

"Oooh great!" she smiled yet again, she seemed to have a much greater ability to do this than me.

The rest of the day went by much more interesting than the last few. I walked Ino home, she lived in a small apartment, which may have been a little odd for someone her age but I wasn't completely sure. I then made my way home. I got a new phone number for my phone. It had been a while since I last did that…

**A/N:** Okay so… I didn't know that the lines I added in on word like disappeared when I posted it on FF. So I made it different… My friend kind of had a spaz attack over this… but it was an **accident!** Okay so... I don't think I'll like add them in to the previous chapters. But like I'll do the rest with proper spaces or page breaks or whatever. Alright number two, if you think Gaara's a little OOC please tell me! I'm not trying to do that… but you know He doesn't say much so he probably thinks a lot right? Anyways this is like the first chapter where shit has actually gone down :D I thought up a bit of a plotline for the future…. I may end up adding some akatsuki in… And other pairings…. Most of which will revolve around Ino. But maybe not all… Anyways... I'm sorry this chapter appears kind of short but please rate and review! It'll inspire me to write more! It will!


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